Climate

Some heartbreaking and frightening video of the BP Gulf oil spill.

If Virginia (Professor Michael Mann's former haunt) and Penn State (Professor Michael Mann's current home) face off again next year, I already know who I'

On Wednesday, I mentioned a new report from a UN advisory group that called for access to modern energy services for the developing world, combined with an increased focus on energy efficiency.  The group released an exhaustive report on the some of the public policy options and private entrepreneurship investments that may help acheive those dual goals.  I just noticed that the UN YouTube people posted some clips from the press conference that introduced the report.  Enjoy,

A UN advisory body today called for universal access to modern energy services. The Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change released an exhaustive report detailing the challenges facing energy access in the developing world—where more than 3 billion people still rely on traditional “biomass” for heating and cooking and 1.5 billion lack access to electricity.

According to Reuters, a week of clear skies over Europe has given scientists another rare glimpse into the effects of aviation on the Earth's climate.   Given that there are roughly 100,000 flights every day, getting control samples is usually impossible.

Ed. note. To honor Earth Day, we are highlighting some of our more poingnent climate change posts over the past year.  Here's UN Dispatch publisher Peter Daou exploring the morally bankrupt worldview of climate-deniers 

Good news for those of you living around Eyjafjallajökull...and bad news for the rest of us.  The good news is that the flash floods, like those created when a 200m-thick block of ice sitting on top of secondary eruptions was instantaneously liquefied, will become less likely as those blocks of ice continue to melt due to climate change.

I was just struck by two items lying dormant in my reader (thanks for letting me down magic sort).

This week, the New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (around 3:18) both marked some news that didn't get much airtime this week -- a UK parliamentary panel charged with looking into "Climategate" found that there was n